News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-01-13
WHERE THE POTATO CAME FROM
Interesting InfOrma ton Furnished ut the
Potato Tercentenary in London.
Rrom the London Times. J

(From the London Times.)
On the first dav of the conferences
held in connection with the potato ter
centenary in ST. Stephens Hall, West
minister, Mr. W. S. Mitchell NJ. A,
read the first paper on "The Historic
Consideration Of the QuestiOn-N hence
Came the Potato to England" Ac-
cording to history our potato was a Vir-
ginian importation, but he thought 1t
impossible that this could be correct.
History had misled botanists, and it
would be useful at this precautionary
occasion for us to thoroughly wipe out
the historic troubles arising through the
carelessness of previous writers, so that
the future workers might have their
path cleared for them. Mr.. Mitchell
then gave the reasons which induced
him to believe that the potato had been
introduced into England by Sir Francis
Drake in 1886. He believed that Drake
had originally obtained the tuber from
South America, either by purchase or
plumber, and had conveyed it to Eng
land at the conclusion of the voyage in
which he relieved Raleigh's Virginian
colony. The potato thus being brought
in Brakes ships, but with Raleigh's
colonists, would reconcile the cOntradic-
tory traditions which ascrlbed the in
PRODUCTION Of the potato to both Raleigh
and Drake.
Mr.. Clements R. Markham, G. B.,
F. r. S., read paper upon the Potato
Cultivation by the Incas and other
Andean Nations" He said that the
original home of the potato was in the
CordiIleras of the Andes in South Amer
lea. There it had been cultivated from
time immemorial over an extent of 8, 600
miles. When the Spaniards first arrived
the potato was domesticated plant OF
the kingdom of the Chibchas. in the
province of Quito, throughout the en-
pire of the Incas of Feru, and in Chill.
The fact of its immemorial cultivation
rendered it difficult to ascertain with
certainty the localities where the potato
was Indigenous. 1t was most probable,
on the whole, that the potato originally
grew wild in suitable localities through.
out the Cordilleras of Peru and Chill.
The potato was unknown further north
than the highlands of Bogota in Column
bia, and it was there that one of the
three American civilizations had its
root, namely, that called by the
Spanish conquerors the Mysca nation.
It's people spoke a language called Chib-
cha, which is now extinct. But vacu-
bularies have been preserved, and they
reveal the fact that the ancient people
of Bogota cultivated the potato extern
sively and had produced several varie-
ties.
Mr.. G. Murray, F. L. S., of the Brit
ish Museum, read a paper Oh "The
Potato Disease He said that the his
tory of the disease was a recent one as
compared with the history of the potato
itself, notice having been called to it in
1915, when it was probably brought to
the country from Belgium. After de-
scribing the nature of the fungus, Mr..
hurry said that he had satisfied himself
that the disease was progagated by the
spores being distributed by the wind.
A number of glass slides, such as are
used with a microscope, having been
covered with glycerine and placed on
the lee side of field of infected pota-
toes, when a slight breeze was blowing,
it was found that after an exposure of a
few hours the slides each contained
number of these spores. From contin-
uous microscopic investigation it has
been seen that the complete fungus was
produced in three hours, and this fact
accounted for'the sudden and disastrous
spread of the disease. No system of
earthing up the potatoes could, he be-
lieved, be efficacious in checking the
disease, neither could confidence be
placed in any legislative enactments
regulating the planting OF potatoes.